Belgian police in safety splurge

By Alix Kroeger
BBC News, Brussels

Belgian police are awash with cash from fines, but spending it is hard

Traffic police in Belgium have taken so much money in fines that they are running out of ways to spend it.

The money is supposed to be spent on road safety projects. If that is not done, the cash goes to the government.

One force spent some of the money on lottery tickets for drivers who obeyed traffic rules.

This year the police have collected 100m euros (£67m) in fines, more than twice the amount raised six years ago.

Motorists in Belgium, smarting from parking tickets or speed camera fines, will have all their darkest suspicions confirmed.

Idle motorbikes

If individual forces cannot come up with road safety project ideas then the money is forfeited to the government, a fate some forces will go to extraordinary lengths to avoid.

Some newly-purchased police motorcycles have not been used

One station bought motorcycles, even though none of the officers there knew how to ride them.

The motorcycles are now lying unused in a basement.

Police put their increased revenue down to better enforcement and more traffic cameras.

They are now looking at spending their record income on other law enforcement projects.